Tie Breaker Guardian
by Tallieho
Summary: After becoming a Guardian, there is actually being a Guardian to worry about. Not to mention learning the difference between finding his place and making his place, utilizing his center, getting to know the other Guardians, confronting The Man In The Moon about the past, the present, and the future, and overcoming all unforeseen and alarming events that fate may offer.
1. Prologue

The sky was blue, flavored with crisp, early Spring dawn. The streets were still quiet, but that emboldening aura still lingered in the air; that aura that Jack had left behind.

Jamie carelessly lifted a hand to his face, rubbing his dreary eyes with the heel of his palm. He yawned, blinking slowly a few times as he stared blindly at the asphalt of the road right before him. It was 7:02 in the morning, Monday, April 9th, and Jamie was teetering where he stood from just a gentle gust of wind. Normally he'd be more awake than ever on the day following Easter Sunday; hyped up on chocolate and other sweets. But the day before had turned out to be a lot longer and far more eventful than usual. After the fight against Pitch, Jamie knew it wasn't until at least five in the morning that he went to bed, though he wasn't entirely sure _how_ he ended up in bed. Either way, on only an hour of sleep, not even Jack's fun and games could keep him awake for long, and Jack Frost was not even there to offer that much assistance to the poor, weary student.

With a rumble of its powerful engine, the large, yellow school bus rolled to a stop right before the Bennett home, its doors opening to let him aboard. Jamie hardly kept his eyes open a crack as he stepped up into the vehicle. Failing to raise his foot high enough, the toe of his shoe caught the edge of the second step, causing him to lever forward and take a nosedive to the floor of the bus.

"My word! You okay, darling?" his bus driver exclaimed, seldom masking the giggle in her voice. Jamie merely nodded, not saying a word or even acting like he noticed he'd fallen as he climbed to his feet and continued to the middle of the bus where a couple of his friends were already seated.

Caleb and Claude sat on one bench together, looking just about as awake as he did. And right across from them, Pippa sat on a bench by herself, passed out against the window, mouth open and drooling. Behind her, Cupcake was laying down on a bench asleep as well. Jamie went ahead and sat next to Pippa, slouching so far back that he was squishing his backpack, and his chin was nearly touching his chest.

"Jeez Louise!" the bus driver, Ms. Hendrick, said aloud. "What's up with you guys? You're usually the chattiest group on my bus, but now you all look hung over!" No one said a word; the best they could offer was a shrug. She wouldn't understand and they didn't have the energy to explain anyhow. "Well I hope you weren't out making bad choices last night!" she teased, proceeding to laugh at her own joke.

The bus revved forward, continuing down the route to pick up Monty and the rest of the kids. The blond haired boy wasn't any better off, and in fact, had a few red lines going across the side of his face like he'd slept with his glasses on. He went to sit behind Caleb and Claude and made like he was going to conk out for the rest of the ride. But it wasn't just they who were hushed, the entire bus –albeit not as exhausted– seemed quieter than normal.

Having been distracted daydreaming, Jamie didn't even notice the strange atmosphere until Ms. Hendrick greeted another one of the passengers with, "are you alright? Everyone seems like they woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." To which Jamie lifted his gaze from the back of the bench so he could see who had just gotten on board.

Soren Kohl walked passed Jamie, eyes front with a look on his face like he had the bitter taste of hate in his mouth. He must have felt utterly _hopeless_ , judging by the worn scowl on his face _._

Jamie frowned as he watched him go by, then turned to the twins. "Hey Claude, doesn't everyone seem.. _off_ to you?"

Claude looked at Jamie with both of his eyes, but it seemed like half of his brain were somewhere else; sleeping perhaps. Before saying anything, he cast a glance around the vehicle at all the tired, saddened, and angry faces, then turned to Jamie. "Nuh.. I dun see an'thing." And he went back to staring at the back of the bench in front of him.

Jamie, perturbed by Claude's lack of observation skills, began straightening up before aiming a calculating face at his friend. He squinted his eyes, and caught sight of some tiny, golden particles dancing in the early morning light above his friend's head. Blinking a few times to clear his vision, the glitter-like dust disappeared as if it were never there. He couldn't be sure if they really had been there. Being so tired, it was likely his eyes playing tricks on him.

Jamie went to staring at his shoes. _No, of course it wasn't dreamsand..._ He turned his head to look at the glowing, golden figure of Pippa that was presently exploring the various corridors, secret passageways, and guest rooms of the imaginary, golden palace floating above the real Pippa's head. And he leaned way away from her, his eyes going wide. _**Or maybe it was.**_ Taken aback, he looked at Claude to ask him if he could see Pippa's dream, but now Claude was asleep against his brother, dreaming about flying through a paint-ball arena with a jet pack. Meanwhile Caleb was dreaming about... _riding on one of Santa's reindeer?_ He had to stare a moment to take in what he was seeing. He'd always believed in the Sandman before, _so why was he only seeing this now?_ When he looked back to Pippa's dream, it had faded to nothing more than a few particles dancing above her head. He turned around and saw Cupcake dreaming of unicorns, and behind Caleb and Claude, Monty was dreaming of spaceships and aliens. But when he looked around at any of the other kids who might have been sleeping on the bus, they dreamt of nothing. They didn't even look like they were getting any rest with the disgruntled looks on their faces.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a new dream appear over Pippa's head, but didn't bother to look. _Why is everyone unhappy but us?_

"Please sit down, Jamie." Ms. Hendrick called to him, pulling him from his reverie.

Jamie turned around to sit and looked at his friends, the cogs endlessly turning in his head. And almost like a puzzle piece clicking into place, his eyes brightened. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious what he and his friends had that no one else did. They had belief. They had seen the Guardians with their own eyes, even talked to them, and _played_ with them in the snow. None of the other kids had experienced that privilege. And Jamie couldn't help but think how awful they all must have felt because of that. Heck, if he'd been left with no Easter excitement, no belief, and no hope; he would have been a grouch all day too.

Throughout the day –from first period, all the way to lunch– Jamie had the nagging sense that it was his responsibility to do something about it, yet his tired and wandering thoughts never opened his mouth to speak. Rather, he floated up into a cloud of eleven-year-old level philosophies and contrived daydreams; wondering about a world where everyone believed in the Guardians, or ways he could inspire them to believe...

He only woke when his teacher placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jamie, it's time to go to lunch. That was the bell just now." Mr. Fowler said with a gentle smile. He was a nice enough man that he wasn't going to reprimand a child for falling asleep during class –not to mention, Jamie was a model student, so his dozing off for once was nothing to get uptight about– but he didn't want said child to miss lunch either.

The young Mr. Bennett moseyed on his sleepy way –backpack half unzipped and hat on sideways– to go meet his friends at lunch. The six of them all sat around the table, still looking nothing short of bedraggled even though the day was half over. In the very least, they had managed to strike up a conversation about the Guardians, and this brought them to their senses.

Through a mouth full of mac 'n cheese, Monty told, "like, I thought the Tooth Fairy would be small –like a normal lady with wings –butterfly wings, but she was taller than us, almost normal size –and she had _feathers!_ " Somehow he managed to both excitedly and tiredly stammer a run-on sentence while chewing food, and still get his point across. "She look kin'a like a half bird er somethin'."

Pippa was even too distracted to scold him for talking through his food. "She was really pretty; probably my favorite Guardian."

Anyone who passed by and heard their conversation figured they were talking about a movie or a book of some sort; none thought to question why they acted like they'd actually met these legendary figures. Though some rolled their eyes at the sound of their cheery discussion. For how _dare they_ have a pleasant day while the rest of the school is in gloom and doom. Jamie looked around the cafeteria and saw that the same attitude he saw on the bus was still there in the school. It wasn't incredibly obvious, but there was enough lacking in the good-mood department that it made the air itself seem heavier than it should have been. Like a foul stench wafting through the building, out the doors and sweeping across the entire campus, the smell of disappointment, apathy, and emptiness. It seemed to drain the color from their faces, turning all of the students into sickly, black and white pictures; that moved slowly and silently to their seats, and ate as if it were something they _had_ to do rather than something they _wanted_ to do. Jamie even wondered, if he watched the crowds closely enough, _might someone throw up?_ Some of them looked like they were about ready to.

"Hey Jamie," Caleb called, "how did you meet Jack Frost anyways?"

The brunet turned back to his table, already feeling perkier just from the mention of his new favorite Guardian. "Oh Jack? Well, I guess, you see, he came in my room and... well, I don't really remember which part was a dream or not –but there was this floating rabbit..."

Not long after he'd gotten that sentence out, his group of friends broke out into snickers and laughs.

" _Dude!_ I asked you how you met _Jack Frost,_ not about a whack dream you had about the _Easter Bunny!_ "

Even Jamie was laughing at himself now, realizing what a strange transition that had been. "No, no, no! I'm serious!" he protested despite his own giggles. "There was a floating rabbit, I'm not kidding you!"

This only made them laugh harder, however. Caleb with his fluttery giggle, and Monty all out laughing in his high-pitch pre-puberty voice. Meanwhile Claude, Pippa, and Cupcake were all covering their mouths, trying not to spit food all over the table. They weren't so much laughing at Jamie as much as they were laughing at how weird it sounded when he claimed there was some sort of floating rabbit involved.

"Oh but that reminds me!" Jamie squeaked through his smile. "Apparently when I went flying on my sled last Friday, that was him!"

They went on laughing about the strange events for some time, becoming so distracted that the story of how Jamie met Jack was never actually told in its entirety. Though some wild tale of the winter Guardian flying in on a magical sofa with a floating rabbit did come into context one way or another. For whatever reason, they could reminisce about the Tooth Fairy, fantasize about Santa Claus, have whimsical thoughts about the Sandman, and even aspire to meet the Easter Bunny again, but whenever Jack Frost came up in conversation, no one could keep a straight face.

Jamie was only drawn out of the conversation when he heard Soren Kohl say, "yeesh, they actually believe him now." Jamie's smile melted, though he didn't turn to look at his peer who sat at the table behind him. There was poison in his voice. He sounded like he had nothing good in him, nothing at all. Hopeless, embittered, and entirely lacking the modesty to keep his judgments to himself. It had been known for some time that Jamie Bennett was willing to believe in more things than the average Joe. He'd read all about aliens, big foot, and every other urban legend and mystery out there that there was to read about. Everyone had always ignored it, they had certainly never minded. So why now did Soren sound so disgusted that Jamie's friends believed in some of those things too?

He didn't know what made him do it. His instincts told him to keep to his own conversation and let it slide. But his muscles rebelled. As if every bone in his body wanted to challenge Soren, Jamie turned around and found that the subject in question was looking at him with those weary, hate filled eyes. But Jamie didn't see a bully. Somehow, he saw a child on the outside looking in, wondering what it must be like to be on the inside, to have what they did, _to believe._

Soren turned back to his food as if nothing had happened. Two of his friends who sat across from him didn't even notice when Jamie looked at them; for the past twenty minutes, they had only been paying attention to their food.

The Bennett child tried to swallow the swelling feeling in his lungs, but couldn't suppress it for anything. "What do you mean, Soren?" The words slipped out sounding clueless and lost; they'd escaped into the real world without permission and without any idea where they were going.

Soren looked back at Jamie and said nothing for a time, just looking at him. He shrugged, turning back to his food. "Nothin', I guess." He had no fight in him, yet he had every desire to initiate one.

"Don't you know they're real?" Jamie didn't know where these things kept coming from, but they came nonetheless.

Now everyone at his table and Soren's were all watching and listening, some strange form of curiosity had befallen them.

Soren sighed and shook his curly, red head of hair, endlessly toying with his plate of food; he didn't look up this time. "You wouldn't understand, Jamie."

"What wouldn't I understand? Just tell me," he said, trying his hardest not to sound threatening.

"The Easter Bunny isn't real, ya dipstick," he spat carelessly.

Jamie felt the acidic remark immediately burning his face and causing his heart to beat faster. He squeezed his fists, and thought his mouth was about to speak against his will again when he was saved by the sound of Caleb's fluttery giggle. He turned around to see that all of his friends were smiling at Soren, looking an awful lot like they were holding back laughter.

"Dude.. then where on earth do you think all those _eggs_ come from?" remarked Caleb just as sarcastically as when he had spoken to Jamie. This earned a few giggles from his table.

"Psh, _what eggs?_ " he snapped, finally looking Caleb in the eye. "You mean all the eggs you _didn't_ find yesterday?"

At that very moment, Cupcake came up from under the table where she'd been rummaging through her backpack and released an armful of colorful Easter eggs across the table. "These eggs," she said calmly.

Soren said nothing, looking at the eggs, and even dared a glance toward the larger girl before turning back to his food. "Never mind. You just don't understand."

Everyone knew Cupcake. But more specifically, everyone knew that you don't _mess_ with Cupcake. She was the tallest girl at school, and in proving herself to be the strongest as well, had even had a few visits to the principle's office. So if she were on the opposing side of the argument, it was best to let her win.

But Jamie wasn't finished. " _What_ don't we understand?" he insisted. Soren had nothing left to say, and merely shook his head. "They _are_ real. All of them. _We_ saw them last night."

Yet somehow this boisterous claim didn't pull on any strings. It couldn't even bring Soren to turn and look at him again. The boy was just empty; like he wanted to believe, but there was an invisible wall in his way. His two friends looked just as apathetic; going right back to their food once the conversation was over.

Jamie had to wonder if he were capable of changing their minds, especially since without the Guardian's help he wouldn't even have been able to change his own friends' minds.

 _But maybe that was it?_ Perhaps the Guardians had to stick up for themselves, and that was the only way they could get believers. Jamie was certain of it now. _Then they'll just have to come right back here again,_ he determined.


	2. Breaking The Ice

Slowly spinning right across the wood floor of the dining hall, the legs of the sofa glided quickly over the sheet of glossy ice that Jack had spread throughout the room, the winter spirit himself surfing atop the red piece of furniture with a white, mylar, Easter Bunny balloon tied to his staff.

"And he flies in on the magical sofa with his floating rabbit to land perfectly in the circle!" Bunnymund shouted through a laugh, clapping his paws.

Meanwhile North and Tooth pulled away from the haphazardly, painted, white circle where the couch now sat, laughing like fools with push brooms in their hands.

The dining hall was one of the biggest solitary rooms in the entire North Pole; a seventy by thirty foot rectangular chamber with a vaulted ceiling and at least half a dozen chandeliers. It was located on one of the lower levels of the North Pole, at which point it was mostly underground. The only windows were narrow, horizontal frameworks near the top of the wall because of this. A fifty-five foot long arrangement of tables went nearly from one end of the room to the other, adorned with an enormous spread of Christmas and Easter themed foods that had been picked apart over the course of several hours. And with a grand fireplace blazing under its mantle in the center of the far wall, the area was filled with chatter, laughter, the mixed smells of various holiday cuisines, and an altogether warm and welcoming atmosphere. A handful of yetis were still hanging around, though most had gone back to their work. The presence of elves and fairies was a constant, the little hellions going this way and that across the table to eat whatever leftovers they chose. Meanwhile, five or six of them sat on the edge of the table near the make-shift curling game. Watching and waiting to hold up a napkin every now and then with crayon scribbles that were intended to be a score of some kind.

When the Guardians had arrived back at the Pole, they were welcomed with applause and congratulations. North insisted on celebrating their victory and Jack's becoming a Guardian _just like the good old days_. A plan which eventually turned into an Easter after-party as well, seeing as Bunny's holiday had been cut short. The affair had started some six and a half hours ago, and had initially made as much sense as toasts going around and stories being told, but now it had evolved into a couple dozen yetis, elves, fairies, and eggs standing around a sheet of ice watching the Guardians play slapstick curling with a sofa and push brooms. Despite North's love of tradition, he hardly noticed as the event kept straying farther and farther from what he'd intended. Truly it had all begun when he tried to make Jack put on the blue shoes again.

"Why do you insist on running around barefoot, Jack?" the Christmas Guardian had teased.

To which Jack turned the tables on him by saying, "North, you're the only person in this entire _building_ who wears shoes at all." And the roar of laughter that followed had only been the beginning. Even North was chuckling whilst he looked at all the bare feet around him. It didn't occur to the Christmas Guardian that there may have been more than one reason why Jack didn't want to wear _those_ shoes in particular.

Jack hopped off the couch, grinning, and accepted Tooth's broom in exchange for his staff as they traded places and head wear; Jack taking off North's ushanka hat and placing it on Tooth's head. North and Bunny also traded places, the Christmas Guardian going to help Tooth push the sofa back to the starting line while Bunny and Jack got ready to sweep in front of her. They were neither following the rules nor keeping score. The game was really more of a joke that had been drawn out so long that the participants felt like maybe they were actually partaking in a sport of some kind.

Sandy had passed out in another arm chair a while ago; his chair which had also been used for curling at one point, so it was facing a random wall rather than sitting in the place it was meant to be. The dream weaver, currently surrounded by piles of empty eggnog cups, needn't worry about his work for a while to come, seeing as the moon was full and bright that night and they had just put Pitch back in his place.

" _Ohh say can you_ _ **seeeeeeeeee–**_ _by the dawn's early_ _ **liiiiiiiiiiiight!**_ " Toothiana sang in every form of off-key one could imagine and waved Jack's staff around like a flag with the balloon still tied to it while she stood on the couch. " _What so_ _ **proooooooooooooooudly**_ _we_ _ **heeeeeeeeeeeeeld–**_ _by the twilight's last gleaming._ _ **WHO'Z BRAWT STRAPES AIND BRATE STWAAAAAAAAAAAAARZ–**_ _through the per-il-ous_ _ **NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!**_ " She went from incredibly low, to so very high that she was screaming at the top of her lungs. North heaved to send the couch down the ice again, with her standing on it squawking the Star Spangled Banner just because 'Jack was Murican' technically speaking. " _Woo!_ I can't remember the last time I had this much fun!"

When North pushed the sofa, as per usual, it soared far beyond the circle and even went off the ice, scraping across the wood floor until it bumped into Sandy's chair. Sandy woke with a start, inadvertently throwing some eggnog cups as he jumped with surprise.

"You're supposed to get it _in_ the circle, not passed it!" And at the sound of Jack's scolding voice, the elves and fairies took down their scores and pretended like they weren't impressed any more.

Tooth victoriously pumped her fist in the air and declared, " **Failure!** " in the same tone that one might use in shouting 'success'. She flopped over backwards onto the heaps of red and green throw pillows with a sigh. "Oh but I'm getting tired now. My sides hurt from laughing so hard." This statement, however, inadvertently caused everyone to chuckle again.

Without a word, they agreed on the need for a break. Dropping the brooms, they gradually shifted to more comfortable positions. Bunny sat on the edge of the table, North crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, and Jack merely stood with his hands on his hips, looking around and waiting for them to catch their breath; he could go all day. The four of them continued breathing heavily from the over exertion, and within the pause, their audience of yetis began to disperse and go do their own things. They remained like this for several minutes, and for a moment there was silence between them for the first time in nearly seven hours. It came quickly yet felt abundantly natural for however long it may have lasted. While they were resting, Jack was drinking it in; the joy.

The silence of which was only broken by the quietest member of their group. They turned their heads to the sound of several cups clattering to the floor and saw Sandy floating up from his chair. He stretched out his stubbly little arms and turned to face them whilst rubbing his eye.

Looking at each of them individually with his sleepy smile, some sand images appeared above his head regarding the passage of time and the amount of work that had been done in the last few days. At that moment, ending their spree of nonsense, the Guardian of Dreams seemed to make more sense than he ever had before. He could tell that they were all tired –with the exception of Jack– and that was saying something for people who normally only slept every few weeks or so.

"E'yup," Bunnymund said while stretching out his arms, "I think I'm gonna head back to the Warren then. Still gotta tidy up the place, an' I'm plum exhausted." He hopped off the table and went to gather some of his egglets that were still running around. It didn't take long for them to gather at their master's feet. "Hate ta leave yah with this disaster, North, but I got my own place to deal with."

To which North waved his hand in the air. "Agh, is nothing. No worries."

"Welp," Bunny declared, paws on his hips, looking around at his fellow Guardians. His gaze lingered on Jack for a moment and he gave him a nod of approval as their newest member. "I guess I'll be seeing you around then."

Jack's mouth opened, but he grabbed the words before they could escape, and instead forced them back down his throat and into his lungs, creating an uncomfortable feeling in his rib cage for a moment. His lips snapped shut, curving into a smile before anyone could wonder what he might have been about to say. Returning Bunny's previous gesture, he nodded back and said, "see you then." _But when, exactly?_ was what he wanted to know.

Bunny sighed, still grinning. "Right then, it's been fun. Good luck, good'ay, and goodbye." With two stomps of his foot, a hole peeled open in the middle of the floor right beneath his egglets, immediately swallowing up the colorful cluster. The Easter Guardian took one step over the edge, dropping out of sight. The hole then sealed up behind him, leaving a single poppy seed flower growing between the planks of wood.

 _It won't be too long, no big deal._ Jack reassured himself.

A long, pointed nose barely touching his temple pulled him from his previous thought as Baby Tooth did her best to place a kiss on his cheek bone without poking his face. The Winter Guardian faced her with a grin, not hardly surprised by her affectionate gesture. The odd-eyed fairy smiled innocently, looking slightly embarrassed with her hands behind her back.

"Now now, Baby Tooth," her queen scolded with a smile of her own, waving a finger at the smaller fairy. Toothiana was now up off the couch, hovering near Jack. She handed him his staff with the balloon still tied to it, then took off North's hat and returned it to its proper owner as well.

One by one they were all off to get some rest and resume their work. Bunny left Jack with a nod, Tooth left him with a hug, Sandy left him with a salute, North left him with a pat on the back, and the various yetis may or may not have left him with a wave goodbye. But not a one said anything about when they would see each other again.

Tooth had seemed a little bit hesitant, like maybe she wanted to say more, but didn't know what. Sandy was too out of it to realize whether he needed to "say" more or not. And by the time North had set off to clean up, he was already too distracted with the task to even acknowledge that Jack was still standing there.

They disappeared a little too fast for him to register. Now he stood in the corner of the room. One leg propped up on the other like a crane, he leaned against his staff looking a little bit like he didn't know where he was for a moment. He watched the yetis tear down the Easter and Winter themed decorations, and found some entertainment in the elves who were racing to gather as much food as possible before it was put away.

But where was it all going? Where were they going? Where was _he_ going? Where does anything go at the end of the day when its work is done? And for Heaven's sake, why couldn't he fly off and do whatever he wanted to anymore? The new weight of responsibility was not stopping him. Nothing was stopping him.

"Jack?" North's hand landed on his shoulder.

He flinched, turning to the senior Guardian. "Hm?"

"You alright?"

"Oh, yeah," he chuckled. And shifting to stand on both feet, he swapped his staff to his other hand and tucked his fist into his hoodie pocket. "Just lost in thought, I guess. –I mean," he looked up to the light shining in through the tiny windows, "I know I was doing _something_ before this all started, but now I can't remember what."

North crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly, the same position he habitually took on whenever someone sounded like they might have had a lot to say. "Don't know where you're going, huh?" He was smiling softly again.

"Somewhere in the Cascade range, I'm pretty sure!" Jack laughed, beginning toward the door. He had to start moving sooner rather than later, otherwise he'd end up looking like a lost puppy. "If I just head toward Mt. Rainier I'll probably remember on the way."

Luckily North bought it. Uncrossing his arms, he laughed along with Jack as he went back to his work as well. "Next time you should ask Tooth for directions _before_ she leaves." By the time he finished his quip, he was already halfway across the room again, leaving Jack alone in the doorway.

 _Next time... when is that?_ His smile faded, but he wouldn't let his expression become anything that someone might look at and think he was upset for any reason. Jack turned on his heels and walked out as if he had a place to be. _I'm not bothered, not even remotely._ It was just a quiet voice in the back of his head that kept telling him this. Quieter even than Sandy, but only because Jack refused to acknowledge it being there. With every step he took –down the winding corridors, up the stairs, passed countless yetis, and through several doorways– he became more and more distracted with the feeling that he was finally tired of being holed up in the stuffy workshop. He somehow hadn't noticed it in the presence of the other Guardians, but alone with his thoughts, it was suddenly far too warm in the building. _I definitely need some air._

He came to a pair of enormous double doors at the end of one of the main hallways that had minimal traffic. The slush and ice that had been tracked in was all he needed to see in order to know he'd found an exit. Two yetis, who had been standing near the door talking, saw Jack coming and opened it for him. It was a normal thing for them, whenever someone as small as Tooth or Sandy came to one of the gigantic, storm-proof doors, they would open it for them to avoid inconvenience.

Jack stopped to embrace the feeling of the wind freely brushing passed his face as the doors were closed behind him. He stood in the middle of a worn snow path leading down to the yeti housing, and the crisp, arctic air filled his lungs. It should have been just as, if not more refreshing than usual, but something about it tasted stale.

 _I must have been indoors for too long,_ he figured. "Alright, wind, take me to the Cascades!"

It acted a little bit weary in its reply, a mere puff of snowflakes being turned up at Jack's feet. He failed to notice, immediately taking a running leap into the air. Not nearly as quickly as usual, he floated up perhaps forty feet before slowing to a stop. Jack flailed in the air, feeling his chest tighten in alarm. He sank a few feet, rose again, then plummeted in an odd direction toward a snowbank. The winter spirit performed a series of out-of-control somersaults across the crusty heap of snow, sliding down the other side to land in a solidified rut of ice. Speechless, he laid there a moment wide eyed and sprawled out on his back with his staff clutched tightly in hand. His heart was pounding.

It didn't hardly take a moment for him to be scrambling to his feet and gazing up at the dancing wind currents above him. His brow was twisted with confusion. "What was _that?_ " he questioned, more confused than disappointed. "You've never done anything like that before!" He thought a moment, "at least not since..." Jack trailed off, now looking to the ground as he recalled the first time he ever tried to fly. In fact, it hadn't been all that different an experience. Only a few seconds later, he was grinning about it. _I've definitely been inside too long._ And he took to the sky once again, this time carefully channeling his powers to be sure he wouldn't slip out of the wind's hold.

He floated up above the workshop then proceeded to rocket away fast as a jet with relative ease.

His heart was still pounding.

~❄G❄~

At the very moment when Jamie stepped off the bus to go home, his mind was set on one thing and one thing only. Pippa, Caleb, Claude, Monty, and Cupcake all followed him off the bus at his stop. There was no question they would be in on it. Mrs. Bennett was on the phone in the kitchen when they walked through the door and paid no mind as six children went tromping up the stairs talking about the Sandman.

"There's gotta be a way we can talk to the Sandman through our dreams," Jamie told them.

"Pippa sounded doubtful, "yeah, but.. doesn't he give dreams to _every_ kid in the world?"

"What's your point?"

The door to the Bennett child's room flew open and slammed against the back wall, knocking a few nick-knacks off a shelf and startling Abby who had been asleep on Jamie's bed. A dozen pairs of feet proceeded to enter, dropping their backpacks and belongings here and there with little regard for the mess that was already on the floor.

"I mean, even if there is a way to talk to the Sandman in your dreams, wouldn't it be super hard to get his attention? 'Cause there are a million other dreams he has to... I don't know, _watch over?_ " The brunette girl shrugged.

The others fiddled with the odds and ends lying around the room, looking at Jamie's various posters, clay figurines, and unique toys. Meanwhile, Jamie dropped to the floor and crawled under his bed, half way under, he began throwing junk out from beneath it.

No one questioned what he was up to except for Pippa. "What are you doing?"

"Ah-ha!" he shouted from under the bed. Jamie backwards army crawled out and tossed a large, red, second hand, scrap book up on the mattress. The word 'EVIDENCE' was scribbled near the bottom of the cover in white crayon, the book itself looked rather worn out and ready to explode from all that was stuffed in it. "I used to just keep it under my bed, but now that it has _proof_ in it, I had to bury it under stuff to keep it safe."

"Hey I remember that!" Monty pointed excitedly to the book his friend had just unearthed.

Everyone else gathered around to see. "What is it?" Cupcake asked.

"I've only ever shown this to Monty," Jamie told, cracking the book open. The weary book cover creaked softly at the strain of being opened again, and the weight of its content was revealed. "I've been collecting evidence for a long time. See?"

Though through the scrutinizing eyes of any adult it couldn't hardly be called evidence, rather the make believe concepts of a child. Jamie's friends, however, seemed impressed, or at least interested. There were countless journal entries written with crayon and misspelled words, but more importantly, there was a photograph of a group of Easter eggs with tiny footprints leading up to them, a plastic baggie containing cookie crumbs from Santa Clause supposedly, a sample of white yeti hair taped to one of the pages, and so much more.

"I was there for that one!" declared a very excited Monty, pointing to a picture of Jamie's window with 'magic ice' spreading over it.

"And now we even know what it was," Jamie said, pulling out his blue pen to scribble on the page. He added 'Jack Frost's magic' below the picture.

Pippa was still slightly confused. "Wait, but what are all of these–,"

" _ **Wait a minute!**_ Do you realize what that _means?_ " Monty had a revelation and turned to Jamie. " _Jack Frost saved my life!_ "

Jamie was just as wide eyed, and for a moment it seemed the two boys were in another world altogether. " _You're right!_ He was totally–,"

"What are you two even talking about!?" Pippa was out of patience and everyone else was at a loss. "When did Jack Frost save Monty? That didn't happen last night!"

"No, no, no, not last night! That was a long time ago when.. well tell 'em Monty."

"I was with my scout troupe on an overnight trip back in October," he began. "We were camping out in the woods near McConnell's Mill. And I guess it all started when I went out to get firewood..." The blond haired boy was just a bit hesitant when he first started telling the tale, seeing as he had only ever told Jamie. But now that everyone believed in the Guardians, it was easier to open up about. He went on to explain how he got chased by a wild dog through the woods, and eventually ended up trapped between the dog and the river. "That was when the _craziest_ thing happened. The river froze over right in front of me!"

"It just froze?" wondered Claude.

"Yeah, a path of ice just appeared like that. –I got across, but the ice broke by itself when the dog tried to chase me over the river."

" _Jack Frost!_ " Elated, Pippa understood now.

"You see! Now we know! –And when me and Monty were talking about it one time, that magic frost appeared on the window." And Jamie pointed to the picture again. "So I think Jack's been around a lot, we just couldn't see him before."

"But what's that?" Caleb turned the page back to the yeti hair.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Can't you read? It says _yeti hair._ "

"But we saw the yetis for real when Santa made those portal thingies... yeah, none of them were white."

"And how do you know we saw all of them last night? There could be white ones," Jamie argued. The lot of them went back and forth on the subject for at least a few minutes. Caleb said it was cat hair, Jamie and Monty said it was yeti hair, while Claude, Cupcake, and Pippa were partial to the idea that maybe it was some of Jack's hair. "Like, whatever!" the Bennett child gave in. "That's not important right now, because what I wanted to show you was this." And he turned the page to the most recent entry in his scrap book.

" _Whoa!_ " Monty gawked.

"Dude! Where did you get that?" asked Claude excitedly.

Taped to the page was a small, thin, disc shaped, glass container filled with brightly glowing golden sand. It was no bigger around than a baseball, and about as thick as a finger; it looked more like a large coin.

"I found it in my room this morning, and this," he explained, turning the page again. Their was a teal toothbrush with a purple ribbon tied around it taped to the next page. The two new items alone accounted for most of the book's bulk. "There was also a big chocolate egg, and a Christmas present with a snow globe in it! I took pictures of everything, but I didn't have time to get them off my camera this morning. The only thing I didn't get a picture of was the glowing snowflake that came in my window. It melted pretty fast." He was even the slightest bit disappointed that he didn't score a photo of Jack's snowflake.

"But where did you put all the other stuff?" Caleb wondered.

To which the brunet boy merely crossed his arms and gave him a smug look. "I'm not telling."

Pippa turned the page back to the dreamsand. "So you think we can somehow use this to talk to the Sandman?"

Jamie uncrossed his arms. "Yeah. I mean.. what else would it be for?" he shrugged. "It's not like I need it to have good dreams."

"But how do we use it?" Cupcake inquired.

Jamie was already busy pulling the tape up, releasing the disc of dreamsand from the paper. He held it in his hands, looking at it a moment as he thought. "I don't really know," he admitted. "But it looks like it can open." He grabbed hold of the top and bottom of the disc and tried to turn them in opposite directions. When his fingers kept sliding, he readjusted his grip, and twisted harder.

"Careful Jamie, you don't want to break it." Pippa warned.

"I'm not going to break it." Although his fingertips were turning purple from the effort it took to get the container open. He furrowed his brow, lips pressed together as he focused on the golden disc. When she saw his hands shaking slightly, Cupcake offered to give it a try, but Jamie was insistent. "I can do it.. it's just– _whoa!_ " The little, round, glass box came open with a _pop_ , the two halves flying out of Jamie's hands and clattering to the floor. Everyone instinctively backed away so none of the sleep-inducing glittery substance would touch them, and watched as it gracefully floated down to the floor.

Abby, however, saw the sparkles and got excited. The greyhound leapt off the bed and went to snapping at the little grains of magic as they drifted through the air.

"Aw man!" Jamie was distraught.

"Maybe it wasn't meant to be opened?" Pippa had to wonder.

They still stood in a wide circle around the Bennett's dog of whom was becoming less and less enthusiastic with every bit of dreamsand she tried to catch. The dog was now turning in delirious circles, sure that she had missed some even though it was all on the floor by now. She swayed this way and that on her spindly legs, tail and head both waving around like one too many shots on a Friday night. Until finally the canine collapsed to the floor with an odd, contented, yowling sound. She went to sleep with her mouth open, tongue hanging out on the floor and paws twitching. Almost immediately a dream materialized above her head; one of her chasing egglets around Sophie's room.

"You see! I told you I could see your dreams on the bus this morning!" Jamie pointed eagerly at the golden version of his dog running around above the real Abby's head.

Claude was distracted by another factor. "Why is your dog chasing egglets? She never saw the walking eggs.. did she?"

The Bennett child glanced at Claude a moment, then went to study the dream a bit closer. "Wait a minute... that's Sophie's room."

The group of kids went straight to the younger Bennett's room, the child in question of whom would not be home from elementary school until at least 3:30 that afternoon. At once they were all turning up stuffed animals, searching the shelves and dresser drawers, and looking in all the dusty corners.

"It had to have been this morning that she saw them in here," Jamie declared. "Because Abby was never outside with us last night, and there were never any eggs in here before then."

"I had forgotten that the Easter Bunny gave her some of the walking eggs." Pippa added whilst she climbed on top of the bed to look on the highest shelf.

Jamie lifted the pillow to look under it. "We all forgot because we fell _asleep._ But if Abby saw them this morning they might still have their–,"

" _ **Eggs!**_ " Caleb cried with joy, lifting the comforter to look under the bed.

Everyone immediately got down on their hands and knees, poking their heads into the cramped space to see. And there stood a cluster of at least a dozen egglets; still upright and bipedal. The strange oval-like shapes turned this way and that as if they were looking around with the eyes they didn't have; occasionally one would do a somersault then come to stand again. They seemed to acknowledge the six faces peering in at them, but did nothing about it.

"This is **perfect!** " Jamie's face was split into a broad grin, as was everyone else's. He reached under the bed to grab one, to which a green and pink-swirled egglet gladly hopped into the palm of his hand. The other kids copied this, all taking an egg out from under the bed. "I bet they can take us to the Easter Bunny!"

Cupcake looked at Jamie. "How?"

"Didn't you see them last night?" Claude gaped. "They opened these _giant holes_ in the ground! And huge, stone egglets came out!"

Jamie held up his egg to eye level. "Okay little friend, can you take us to the Easter Bunny?"

In response the egglet skipped up and down, doing a strange little jig on his hand to say how happy it would be to oblige. Next it hopped out of his grasp with no warning and stomped as hard as it could on the floor. The egglet scampered away from the void that tore its way into the floor boards, opening with a warped, creaking noise. Everyone quickly got to their feet again and backed away; eyes wide looking down into the deep, dark tunnel.

" _...Whoooaaa!_ " Caleb and Claude both said simultaneously.

"That just _happened..._ " Monty was just as gobsmacked.

Each of their mouths were hanging open, sights fixed on the hole in Sophie's bedroom floor. They were silent for a moment.

"Pippa looked at the Bennett child. "You should go first, Jamie."

His head whipped up to look at her. "M-me?" he pointed to himself. "But..." he paused, looking back down at the rabbit hole, "it's so deep."

Just from where they stood, they could see the way the smooth, dirt walls twisted and turned to follow the abstract curves of the earth. There were no stones or roots of any kind, but small patches of moss carpeted the tunnel, and there was even a mushroom or a flower here and there. Farther down, it broke off into separate tunnels, some going deeper into the darkness, whereas others allowed beams of sunlight to pour in from an unknown source.

It didn't hardly make sense. They were on the top floor of the house, yet the dirt shaft went down through the floor with no indication that it ever had a run in with the kitchen or living room. And Mrs. Bennett certainly hadn't said anything about seeing a wide column of dirt sprouting through the middle of her house.

"It was your idea," Pippa told him.

"I know. But what if we get lost down there?"

"I'll go," Cupcake said. And without so much as a 'wish me luck' she dropped right into the hole and was quickly sliding out of sight.

The others were left with the sound of her laughter echoing all the way down.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Monty cried. He put down his egg and got onto his hands and knees, lowering himself into the hole.

Caleb and Claude shared a glance, now knowing full well that they didn't want to miss out on this. The twins jumped right in after Cupcake, and they too were out of sight before Monty could even get all the way in the hole. Jamie then followed suit, and hopped in. If anything, Cupcake's rough and tough demeanor managed to make some scary things seem not so scary anymore.

"Come on Monty!" Pippa jumped in as well, grabbing hold of the blond boy's jacket on the way down, she dragged him with.

"Care _ful–!_ " he cried, losing his grip and disappearing down the rabbit hole.

The moment his fingers came off the edge, the hole began to recede and left nothing more than a daisy in its place. The remaining egglets took that as their queue, scampering back under the bed to keep the boogeyman away.

* * *

 **What's canon?** (Hey peeps! Just so you know, at the end of every chapter, I'll be putting my sources in the author's notes! There will be plenty of _fun facts_ in here for chapters to come! For example...)

 **Jamie's scrap book and Jack Frost saving Monty,** none of that was mine. Although it's not necessarily _canon,_ a Rise of the Guardians graphic novel called "Hidden Truth" was officially published with short stories about the Guardians and the Burgess kids. You can preview one of the stories on the RotG wiki site. I can't put a link in the author's notes, but look up 'RotG Hidden Truth' and you should find it.

 **The gifts the Guardians left for Jamie** are in fact canon, near as I can tell. Just look up 'RotG deleted scenes epilogue' and you can watch a video of the story board art.

If you have any thoughts or comments, please let me know! I am looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested. (And I hope you've all had that wonderful moment when a simple joke goes so far as to become a makeshift game of curling with a sofa... without the aid of drugs. It truly is an amazing thing.) Thanks for reading!


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